Dave Kelly and I just wrapped up our 6th episode of Jim Bits and had the last showing at Dave Kelly Live on Fathers Day.
For those that require a little history lesson - DKL has just finished its third season and as in previous years it was a significant success. And one helluva lot of fun for me. Especially fun because alI I need to do is show up and sit on stage waiting patiently with a quick quip or schedule reminder for Dave. But mostly I'm simply waiting to be made fun of. And of course I always have a beer at the ready for our guests.
In the beginning I always wanted a portion of the show to be dedicated to me being able to surprise Dave and watch him scramble. I've always loved it when something goes awry and he needs to scramble to correct. Naturally Dave took that brilliant idea and instead turned it on me. I am now the one left to scramble, or at least that is what happened the first two years.
In the last year my health was a bit more dodgy than in the first two years, and while Dave and I are thrilled to be bringing the cancer story to the audience we knew it was safer to tape our humour in advance.
Hence JIM BITS.
The name was a bit of a discussion at first as the other title being bandied about was TUB TALKS.
Both work, both make us laugh, and of course the intent of Jim Bits was to give us the chance to replicate the purpose of Gather With Jim but in an video setting, and with humor, and with Dave. In each of the six sessions Dave does what he does best, which is pulling out ideas, thoughts and emotions from his interviewees. We talk about living with cancer, we talk about the affect it has on the ones we love and we talk about life and being more present in each and every moment.
Over the six sessions we really have covered a lot of topics and as a side benefit we've gotten a bit of a diary of where I was physically and mentally over the 6 months. Oh, and my many hairstyles. So many changes up there!
Of course I think the content is truly interesting but I have a feeling most people would say the setting of the interview is the part that is most intriguing.
TWO DUDES SITTING IN A BATHTUB DOING AN INTERVIEW?!?
Weird right?
Somehow it works. It works cause it's just obtuse enough to provide us with enough levity to approach the seriousness of the majority of topics, and I assume once people get past the nakedness they appreciate the stories a bit more.
Oh, and not all of it is serious stuff. For each show we tried to do something along the theme for the evening. For Valentines I made Dave a lovely fountain and for Fathers day we wore #JimSocks and ties. Each of these segments are two minutes long and tend to be 100% humour and used for the show itself. I didn't include these below but I think you will find them easily enough on the Dave Kelly Live website.
I'm looking forward to seeing what the fourth season of DKL brings. Based on where I am these days I think I'm going to prepare for more action next season. Fingers crossed.
I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed making them.
PS thank you to the gang from DKL for continuing to include me in the insanity and another set of thanks to the gang that occasionally interlope into my bathroom. And of course thanks to Tracey for putting up with the bathroom madness as well as Dave prancing about in his tighty whitey's.